Hello friends,

As you know WordPress can support custom content types and fields. They allow you to extend the functionalities of our favorite CMS. There are different ways of adding them however the one that I am going to present to you right now is probably one of the best there is.

Presenting – Pods – the framework that allows you to create custom content types and fields and to manage them from only one location in your WordPress website.

What is Pods?

This project is a framework that helps you grow your development skills and also allows you to manage additional content that is better that the standard WordPress posts and pages functionalities. The official website for Pods is pods.io. From there you can read the official User Guide for using this framework. You can also check out the forums and Slack chat that will be useful for getting additional help with Pods. On the official website you can check out additional plugins and you can also download and install them.

What to do with Pods?

This single WordPress plugin will work like a magic wand. Why? Because you will be able to add any custom content type that your website needs for its specific purposes. It doesn’t matter if you want something big or something small – Pods will just be there for you!

This WordPress plugin will be useful for:

• Creation of custom post types – they resemble the standard WordPress posts and pages, however they have different functionalities and different areas;
• Creation of custom taxonomies – create new taxonomies that will resemble the standard WordPress ones (tags & categories);
• Creation of custom settings options – add additional settings to your WordPress admin panel under the Settings menu in order to organize your overall website’s settings with ease;
• Creation of advanced content types – need something that is completely separated from WordPress (but you still want it inside WordPress)? Then Pods will help you create advanced content types that will have their own database tables and functionalities;
• Extension of the existing content types – Pods will be able to provide extensions for the content types that you already have on your WordPress website. They will get new functionalities.
  Extend the following:
  • Post Types – create and manage fields for Posts and Pages;
  • Taxonomies – add additional fields for Tags and Categories;
  • Media – provide additional fields when uploading files to your WordPress library so that you can add more information and context data to them;
  • Users – more data for your users’ profiles;
  • Comments – gain additional functionalities for user comments

When you create or extend a content type, you might want to add some of the additional plugins that will allow other WordPress plugins to utilize these custom content types. You can check for such plugins in WordPress.org or on the official Pods website.

Speaking of adding fields – Pods provides you with various options for fields. You can use them or create your own.

The fields that are available have their set of options. For example you may add Date/Time fields, Color Picker fields, Avatars fields, Text fields, etc. For a detailed list, make sure that you check the WordPress.org page of Pods.

How to start using Pods?

Simply download, install and activate the plugin. Then head to the WordPress admin panel and from there click on Pods Admin -> Components. Enable the ones that you desire to use. Then you can check out the Templates section and add new templates.

Next you should check the Settings sub-menu. From there you can clean the Pods cache and see system information about your WordPress installation and hosting. From the settings sub-menu you can also Reset Pods data or Deactivate and Delete Pods data.

Finally click on the Add New sub-menu and from there you can start creating your own custom content type or extend the existing content types. Just follow the wizard and make sure that you have read the User Guide on the Pods website.

And that’s all friends! Would you give Pods a try? Share any thoughts and questions about this framework in the comments section below.

See you soon, friends!